Re: plex86 to be built under ia64

[Bdale Garbee <bdale@gag.com>]

robert@3b0x.cjb.net (Robert Millan) writes:

> I maintain the i386-specific Plex86 package, but i suspect that i can be
> built under ia64 environment.

That would be interesting, if true.

> If you believe it can be ported, contact me (i'm not subscribed) so i can
> add ia64 to the architecture list on my next upload.

I'll CC the list so we all stay in the loop.

The first thing that comes to mind is that all the prebuilt kernel packages I
have uploaded so far are based on 2.4.9 plus patches.  There have been some
significant changes in the ia32 subsystem support in the kernel since then,
and so I'd want to move to a newer kernel before doing too much poking with
this.  I'm looking at 2.4.16 right now, not sure when or what we might upload
next yet.

> Due to Plex86 i386 virtualizator nature, we can divide the sources in three
> parts attending on their portability:

So, the first thing I wonder about is whether, in fact, this can/should all
be built on ia64, or whether the packaging should be re-factored to split the
package into chunks that are host architecture specific and chunks that must
be built on ia32 regardless of where they're run?  I haven't studied your
packaging work in any detail yet, this is just a first impression kind of
question.

I guess I'd rather see someone work with you to get this built and working
*before* you add ia64 to the architecture list on an upload, though, since 
saying it works on ia64 in the packaging when it really doesn't yet would 
just mess with our build completion percentages and not add any value.

By the way, merulo.debian.org is a fairly well-configured ia64 system you
should have access to if you'd like to experiment with the packaging and 
building parts yourself.  Obviously, that's not a good machine to try actually
*running* this stuff on, though.  :-)

Bdale